
i 
Price 10 cents. 3 

THIS 

MOUNTAIN SCOUT 1 






i db is .a. :k "^* . 



CAPTURE OF 

FORTHAMBY 

A Thrilling Story of the War. 



REV. W. R. GWALTNEY, D. D. 




PUBLISHED BY THE MOUNTAIN SCOUT, 
Taylorsville, N. C. 



**M§ 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



The following Thrilling account of the troubles, in this section, 
just about the close of the war of 1861-4 was published in thel 
Scout in June. Quite a number of our citizens have expressed 
a desire for a copy of it to lay away and keep for their children to 
read. Yielding to the many requests made we have concluded 
to place it before the people in the form of a pamphlet and we hope 
that it may find its way into every home within the territory cov- 
ered by Wade and his hand. The Author, being a participant 
in the capture of Wade's band, has given the facts as seen by an 
eye witness. MOUNTAIN SCOUT. 



MOUNTAIN 




LIBRARY. 



4 

00 



No. 4. Taylorsville, N. 0., Price 10 cts. 

CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY 

OR A 

THRILLING STORY OFTHE WAR. 



Rev. Dr. W. R. Gwaltney writes of the Heroism, of Confed- 
erates at Fort Hamby. 
O — O 



In March 1865, General Stone- 
man left East Tennessee, mov- 
ing from Taylorsville, Tenn., 
through Watauga county to 
Deep Gap in the Blue Ridge. On 
the 26th of March he entered 
Boone, N. C, and on the day 
following the column was divid- 
ed, one division under General 
Stoneman marching towards 
Wilkesboro, while the other, un- 
der General Gilliam, crossed the 
Blue Ridge at Blowing Rock 
and went to Patterson, in Cald- 
well county, there joined Gen- 
eral Stoneman at Wilkesboro. 
On the 31st of March General 
Stoueman moved over into Sur- 
ry county, going toward Mt. 
Airy. During Stoneman's march 
through this section of the State, 
his men committed many de- 
predation?. After leaving 



Wilkesboro a number of the law- 
less of his command deserted 
Stoneman's army, and other 
worthless characters led by two 
desperate men, Wade and Sim- 
mons, completely terrorized 
Wilkes and portions of other 
counties by their frequent raids. 
They would ride into the yard, 
dismount and several of them 
would enter the house, and one 
or more would point loaded pis- 
tols or guns at any person or 
persons who might be in the 
house, saying "if you open your 
mouth we will drop you in your 
tracks. 1 ' while others would go 
through every trunk anddraw T er 
to be found, taking with them 
everything that suited them and 
every good horse on the planta- 
tion. It must be remembered that 
at that time almost every man 



2 CAPTURE OF 

fit for millitary services was in 
the army and the country was 
almost completely at the mercy 
of the robbers. After Lee's sur- 
render and the Confederate sol- 
diers began to return home 
this state of affairs continued. 
These marauders then divided 
into two bands, one led by Sim- 
mons with head-quarters in the 
Brushy Mountains, the other 
led by Wade, who had head- 
quarters on the Yadkin River, 
in Wilkes county. Several times 
these two bands operated to- 
gether. But as the writer had to 
deal with Wade's band, and 
with it had a most lively experi- 
ence, this article will be devot- 
ed to him and his fiendish work. 
He claimed the rank of major in 
Stoneman's army and said he 
was from Michigan. The house 
in which he fortified was on the 
road leading from Wilkesboro 
to Lenoir, and nearly a mile 
from Holmans Ford, where the 
valley road crosses the Yadkin 
River, The house was situated 
on a high hill commanding a 
fine view of the Yadkin Valley 
and of the valley road for a 
distance of a mile above and a 
mile below the ford, The house 
fronted the river on the South. 
On the West Lewis Fork, a 
stream smaller that the Yad- 
kin River, emptied into it. On 
the North and East lav a wide 



against the Indians, 
have 



FORT HAMBY. 

I belt of thick woods. In this sec- 
tion were many sympathizers if 
not aiders and abettors of the 
band. From this position the 
Yadkin Valley and the sur- 
rounding country for at least a 
half mile in every direction 
could be swept and controlled 
by Wade's guns. There is a leg- 
end that on this very hill 
Daniel Boone was fortified 
It would 
been difficult to have 
chosen a stronger location both 
offensive and defensive, than 
this. The house was built of 
logs, two stories high. The rob- 
bers had cut port holes for their 
guns in the upper story. They 
were army guns of the best type 
and could command the ap- 
proach to the house from all di- 
rections. There would be no- 
thing more hazardous than to 
attempt to reach it. This house 
belonged to some disreputable 
woman by the name of Ham by 
and after Wade had fortified 
and occupied it the name by 
which it was known was Fort 
Hamby. It is not known just 
how man}' men were engaged in 
these depredations. Perhaps the 
number actually engaged was 
not more than thirty. A list of 
eighteen names was found when 
the fort was taken, but more 
than that number was known 
to co-operate with them. They 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY 



showed a spirit of revenge and a 
desire for plunder in all their 
raids. Indeed they seemed to- 
think that they must treat with 
the utmost cruelty all who were 
not in sympathy with them. 
They were brave men and well 
drilled. All the people of Wilkes 
county lived in constant dread 
of them — frightened by the 
bark of a dog or the rattling of 
the leaves. Life seemed worse 
than death. All Wilkes county 
was subdued by them. They 
made several rades into Alexan- 
der and Caldwell counties, rob- 
bing the citizens and subjecting 
men and women to the grossest 
insults. On the 7th ef May 1865 
they made a rade into Caldwell 
county. Major Harvey Bingham, 
with a few men, made a well 
planned move on the fort Sun- 
clay night following. It seems 
that Wade and his men were 
not aware of Bingham's ap- 
proach until he and his men had 
entered the house. Wade and 
his men announced their help- 
less condition and begged for 
their lives. No guns being seen 
Binhham believed them his 
prisioners, They gave Wade and 
his men time to dress, after 
which at a moment when the 
captors were off their guard, 
they rushed to their guns which 
were concealed about their beds 
and opened fired on them. The 



result was that Clark, a son of 
. General Clark, of Caldwell coun- 
ty, and Henly of the same coun- 
ty, were killed. The others es- 
caped, leaving the bodies of 
Clark and Henly. 

The Satui'day night follow- 
ing they crossed over into Al- 
1 exander county, intending to 
I capture and kill W. C. Green, 
son of Rev. J. R. Green, who 
i had been a lieutenant in the 
confederate army, Rev. Mr. 
Green had been informed of the 
expressed purpose to kill his 
son, and they were on the look- 
out for them and were ready to 
give them a warm reception. 
They surrounded the house, 
and Wade had on a Confederate 
grey suit which he always car- 
ried with him when he wanted 
to enter a house without forc- 
ing his way into it. He claimed 
to be an officer in the Confedrate 
army and was returning home 
and desired a night's lodging. 
The moon was shining bright- 
ly. Mr. Green could see him 
and his men and said : "I know 
you and you can not come in 
here unless you come in over 
my dead body," Mr. Green 
had his position at the front 
door with a pistol in one hand 
and a dirk in the other. His 
son was at the front window 
and his daughter at another 
window armed with a knife of 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY. 



long keen blade They had 
taken five of their servants into 
their confidence and armed 
them also and placed them into 
the rear of the house. Three 
of the gang were about to enter 
through a window in the rear 
part of the building and Lieu- 
tenant Green hearing it, rushed 
to the place and knocked out a 
pane of glass and fired at them, 
slightly wounding one of them. 
They withdrew, leaving two of 
their horses and two or three 
hats and went in haste back to 
the fort. The next day (Tues- 
day) Col. WashiDgton Sharpe 
gathered to gether about twenty 
men, old soldiers who had re- 
turned from Appomattax, and 
pursued them, James Linney, 
Brother of Hon. R. Z. Linney, 
and Jones Brown were killed 
and left in the yard. The 
others, some of them sprmging 
from their horses and running 
on foot, escaped. They manag- 
ed to get together at Moravian 
Falls and returned home great- 
ly dejected, while the robbers 
were greatly emboldened by 
their two victories in one week. 
The loss of Linney and Brown 
cast the darkest shadow of 
gloom and sadness over the 
whole community. 

The burning question was 
asked by every one, "what is 
going to be done?" Some 



thought that there was little or 
no hope of anything being done 
— Some who had been, were 
really afraid to go again and 
did not go. 

Now the writer must speak as 
an eyewitness of all that follows, 
After returning from the army 
I took a small school in Alexan- 
der county and boarded in the 
home of Ellis Haynes, Esq. The 
company which wa» driven 
from the fort the Sunday be- 
fore was made up in this com- 
munity. 

Col. Sharpe called together 
and held a consultation with a 
number of the old soldiers and 
it was soon decided that another 
effort should be made to dis- 
lodge them and put an end to 
the work of plunder and mur- 
der. I left my school in the Lands 
of one of my pupils and joined 
the company. We started on 
Tuesday after-noon following 
the Sunday on which our Alex- 
ander men had been repulsed. 
The company numbered about 
twenty men. Having crossed the 
Brushy Mountains at Cove Gap 
just before reaching Mora vain 
Falls, in Wilkes county, we met 
a man near Holman's Ford who 
told us that Wade was looking 
for lit* and he declaired he could 
whip a thousand of us, and he 
hoped we would come on. We 
stopped and held a consultation 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY 



sent one of our men into Iredell 
county to ask Col. Robt. V. Cow- 
man, who had commanded the 
33rd Regiment of N, C. Troopers 
in the war just closed, to gather 
up all the returned soldiers he 
could and come to Holman's 
Ford with all possible speed- We 
sent another one of our number 
tj the headquarters of a por- 
tion of the Federal army en- 
camped near Lexington, N. C, 
to inform them of the condition 
of things in Wilkes county, and 
to ask them to send and relieve 
the situation as early as they 
possibly could. We then went 
on, reaching Moravian Falls 
about sun-set, and remained 
there till near midnight, and 
then moved slowly and cau- 
tiously up the road leading to 
Holmens Ford. The night was 
dark, or the after part of it, and 
all felt that the march was 
fraught with danger. Coming 
within a mile or less of the ford, 
a voice rang out sharp and 
clear: "Halt, who comes 
there?" Col. Sharpe replied : 
''Men from Alexander : Who 
are you?" The answer came, 
"Oxford's men from Caldwell 
county. "Advance" This was 
good news to us. We found 
Oxford's men all sleeping 
soundly in the woods near the 
road except two or three who 
were walking the sentinels'sl 



beat, We shared the bed of 
leaves till break of day and then 
the call came for all to rise and 
fall into line. The two com- 
panies to gether numbered not 
more than forty men. We left 
the road leading to the ford and 
turned up the river to the left 
and crossed at a small ford on 
the farm of a Mr. Tolbert and 
then ascended a hill to the val- 
ley road and dismounted and 
fed our horses and opened our 
haver sacks and ate breakfast 
in the yard of Mr. Tolbert. In 
his house a woman was dying, 
who with her husband the day 
before was approaching the ford 
in a wagon and was shot by one 
of" the robbers from the fort 
more than a quarter of a mile 
distant. While here Mr. Tol- 
bert said to us : "You can easily 
judge what my fears of these 
robbers are and my feelings to- 
ward them, but I dare not say 
a word. My advice to you all 
is that you go back home for 
with that force you will not be 
able to tal^e them. They are on 
the lookout, for you, and they 
have doubtless sent to their 
sympathizers for recruits, and 
should they capture you they 
will surely kill you, and no 
doubt now they are lying in 
those thickets waiting in am- 
bush for you, and as soon as 
you turn the top of that hill you 



6 CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY. 

are in danger of being shot thicket. We felt that an enemy 
down. We held a counsel of war. | whom we could not see was 
A few of our bravest men were about to drop us in our tracks 
in favor of going back and wait- , in constant expectation of being 
ing till we could rally a strong- shot into enternity. We were 
er force. By a large majorit} 7 never so conscious of safety as 
it was decided to go on. After I when we reached that hill where 
passing the top of the hill and , we felt that in the fight we could 
coming to a little narrow foot- j see the foe. We had been on 
path leading through a long that hill only a few minutes 
stretch of thicket and old field ' when one of the robbers was 
pines, the Colonel said to me : seen leaving the fort and going 
"You take these five men and into the field below where seve- 
follow this path till you reach ral fine horses were grazing. He 
the hill yonder on the West of bridled one of them, and while 
the fort between which hill and bridling the horse the writer ran 
the fort runs Lewis Fork. Feel ; down the hill about twenty 
your way carfully through the ; yards toward the creek (Lewis' 
thicket and when you reach the ! Fork) and from a pine tree was 
hill scour it all over and see trying to get a shot at the rob- 
that their is no one on it. I will ber. But there being so many 
take the company on horses and . trees in the way he led the horse 
station them on the North and | rapidly away beyond some 
East of the fort and thew we Thickly timbered land and was 
have them surrounded with the out of sight. In less than five 
Yadkin River on the South. ' minutes I heard the gun of one 
When the men are stationed a I of my men on the hill top snap, 
gun will be fired on the East I looked and saw that he was 
that you may know that we are pointing his gun towards the 
in place. I took tine live men greek below me. Hisgunsnapp- 
atid we went single hie one after ed several times. I knew that 
another, expecting every step to he was trying to shoot one of 
be shot down. We breathed not Wade's band, but I could not 
a free breath until we reached see him, but I felt that the man 
the hill and scoured it all over was between me and the creek, 
and found no one on it. We _ Thpn X saw ano ther one of my 
had been in manv places or dan- ; ., . , 

i 4.1 " i 4. men slip his gun to the one 

ger during the war, but never l b 

had our courage been tried a> it whose gun kept snapping, He 
was in this march through that reached his hand and took hold 



CAPTURE OF 

of the muzzle of the gun and 
pulled it to him. 

He raised it to his face and I 
thought I never heard a gun 
roar louder. He shot at one of 
tho robbers sitting on the bank 
of the creek, but missed him. 
He pitched forward into the 
creek and ran it towards the 
Yadkin. The creek was so 
over hung with under growth 
that we saw no more of him. 
We supposed he was then wat- 
ching for our approach. If he 
knew of our presence till fired 
on we knew not. The warning 
he got saved his life, for he did 
not return to the fort. Our men 
kept up filing on the house all 
day and they returned the fire 
at us, and shot with such accur- 
acy that we had to keep at a 
great distance behind trees and 
logs. In a very few minutes 
after the shot was fired at the 
robber on the creek bank one of 
the men from the east of the 
fort fired his gun to let us know 
that all were stationed. Then 
such a yell was raised in the 
fort as we never heard before or 
since. The most fearful oaths. 
It was more like the howling of 
devils, cursing us and daring 
us to come on ; evidently trying 
to make it appear that they w T ere 
there in strong force. 

Night came on and it was a 
very dark cloudy night. Anoth- 



FORT HAMBY. 7 

er counsel of war was held. 
Some advised that in view of 
our small numbers and thepro- 
babilty of their bringing in re- 
cruits that night and surround- 
ing us, that it would be the part 
of wisdom to with draw and wait 
till we could rally greater 
forces. Others said if we did not 
dislodge them then that they 
would never return for another 
effort. A majority of us declar- 
ed that we could whip all the re- 
cruits that might come and that 
we must stay till the fort was 
taken saying : "Death is prefer- 
able to the miserable life which 
they are causing us to lead, and 
live or die let us stay till the 
work is done." We stayed. And 
in the darkness we constructed 
a new line of breast- works near 
the fort and kept on shooting at 
the house for some time after 
dark. The enemy fired no more 
after it became too dark for 
them to see us. We had in our 
Alexander company a man from 
Iredell count}' by the name of 
Wallace Sharpe. He went by the 
name of Wall Sharpe. His sta- 
tion was near the spring and 
between him and the fort and 
very near it stood the old kitch- 
en built of small pine logs, cov- 
ered with boards and it was very 
old and dry. Wall Sharpe, as 
soon as he could see signs of ap- 
proaching day, pulled off his 



8 CAPTURE OF 

shoes and very quietly made his 
way to the old kitchen and push- 
ed some dry trash into a crack 
and struck a match and touch- 
ed it and then ran back to his 
station. Soon the whole kitchen 
was ablaze, and you may be sure 
that no fire was ever more eager- 
ly watched. Very soon the 
sparks began to fall on the roof 
of tha fore. And soon little 
blazes sprang up here and there 
on the roof. Our men raised a 
shout for joy. 

Then the robbers raised a 
yell. The call for a surrender 
by one of our men was heard. 
They asked what we would do 
with them if they surrender- 
ed. Wall Sharpe replied with 
an oath : "We will kill the last 
one of you." They came out 
with Wade in front. He raised 
his hand and touched his hat as 
though he would surrender and 
then darted like an arrow down 
the steep hill towards the river 
and so on through the line, our 
men firing several shots at him, 
but it being too dark to see, not 
a snigle shot hit him. He ran 
across the bottom to the Yadkin 
river and hid under the bank of 
the river. With all our search- 
ing we failed to find him. He 
told some one afterwards that 
some of our men came within 
five or six feet of him. We 
tracked him to the river, but 



FORT HAMBY. 

could get no further trace of 
him. Such strides as he made 
across the bottom, according to 
his tracks, it did not seem pos- 
sible to be made by men. As 
soon as the others came out they 
were seized by the soldiers, and 
for a few minutes it seemed that 
they would be torn to pieces. 
The} r were in the hands of men 
whose mothers, wives and sis- 
ters tLey had insulted. The 
whole company was for a little 
time an infuriated mob. Then 
for the first time some of us were 
impressed with the fact that 
there is nothing so much to be 
feared as a company of men so 
enraged as to loose their 
heads. 

Men were comanded to climb 
to the top of the house and ex- 
tinguish the fire, so that suffi- 
cient time would be had to as- 
certain what was concealed 
therein. Property of nearly 
every description was found. 
Many fine dresses and ladies 
hats which they had taken from 
the desolute woman who occu- 
pied the house. Many fine 
horses were in the pasture near 
by — about twenty. They were 
returned to their owners. Stakes 
having been erected for their 
execution, they were told that 
they must die, They begged to 
be imprisoned for life, but were 
'told that they must be disposed 



CAPTURE OF 

of summarily, as they had di- 
sposed of Clark, Henly, Linney 
and Brown. Passing with them 
through the yard to the place 
of execution, Colonel Sharpe 
told them that they could have 
a little while to make any pre- 
paration for death, should they 
so desire : They began praying 
but their prayer was, "Men 
spare us!" Wall Sharpe said 
with an oath, "don't pray to 
us. Pray to God. He alone 
can save you." Some of the 
men still burning with rase be- 
gan to ridicule, and mock them, 
Wall Sharpe said: "Men, we 
have given them time to repent, 
and you shall not bother them." 
Col. Sharpe then commanded 
every one to be quiet. All was 
still. He then turned to me and 
asked me to pray for them. 1 
replied, "Colonel, I cannot, for 
I never had such feelings as I 
now have. ' ' I feared to approach 
the throne of grace just then 
lest I might come into His pre- 
sence without sincere desires, 
Rev. Isaac Oxford, captian of 
the Caldwell company, said to 
me, "Hold my gun and I will 
pray for them. ' ' I took his gun 
and he thanked God that none of 
us were killed and that justice 
had overtaken them at last, and 
this was about the burden of his 
prayer which was nothing more 
than a thanksgiving. 



FORT HAMBY. 9 

We then moved on to the 
place of execution and bound 
them to stakes. But before 
they were executed. I said "Col- 
onel, I feel a desire to pray for 
them now." He said he would 
be glad for me to do so. I 
tried to pray for their forgive- 
ness and salvation with all the 
earnestness of my soul. In a 
moment the comand was given 
to fire, and they were in eterni- 
ty. It may be interesting to re- 
late in this connection an incid- 
ent : In our Alexander company 
was a young man whose name 
was Fony Roseman who could 
shoot a rifle with great assuran- 
cy. He was a devoted friend 
of James Linney, who was kill- 
ed there the Sunday before. He 
had. learned from one of the rob- 
bers that Will Beck was the one 
who killed Linney. They had 
dug a hole into which they had 
thrown Linney 's body and cov- 
ered it up. Taking up his body 
it was seen that the Minnie ball 
had entered just above his right 
eye. Roseman asked Col. Sharpe 
to make him one of the detail 
to shoot Beck. This request was 
granted. He said, "Now, I am 
going to hit him just above the 
j eye in the same spot where he 
hit my friend Linney. He did 
just what he said he would do 
as though he had gone and 
placed it there with his fingers. 



10 CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY. 

The question then came up as to news of the victory of York- 
what we should do with the ; town. 

house. Without much discussion The next morning before 
it was decided that it should be ' starting to my school I saw corn- 
burnt down. There wero several ing down the road from the di- 
barrels of unshelled corn in the recti on of Fort Ham by twelve 
upper story of the building ; men on horseback. They had 
which was all thrown out : on blue uniforms, which all the 
through a window, and soon I robbers wore. My only thought 
the house was all in a blaze. I was that they were some of the 
When the flames reached the recruits who were expected at 
basement the firing of loaded Fort Hamby and that they were 
guns was like a heavy skirmish, after taking vengeance on all 
How many guns and how much j who had taken part jn the work 
ammunition they had stored . done the day before, As they 
away we were not able to tell. [ approached the gate, I was 
Wade was seen by some one j boarding in the home of Ellis 
in that vicinity not many days ; Haynes, Esq., I went into my 
afterwards. He said he lay all ' room which was on the first 
day under the bank of the river, floor and locked myself in and 
and some time in the night he \ looked to the condition of seve- 
came our and walked around ral guns and pistols which I 
and saw what had been done kept loaded ail the time, deter- 
and then went away. He said I mined to sell my life as dear as 
lie should leave that part of the ' possible. They dismounted 
country very soon. He has nev- and came in and asked if they 
er been seen or heard of since. : could get breakfast and their 
On our way back to Alexander \ horses fedjg Mr. Haynes told 
county we met Col. Cowan, of , them they could. They took 
Iredell county with twelve or; seats on the front porch and en- 
fifteen men coming to our assis- j tered in lively conversation 
tance, We also met some of the j with Mr. Haynes, Of course I 
citizens of Wilkes county com- '■. was listening, From all I could 
ing with wagon loads of provi- 1 hear I began to think that per- 
sioiib for us. When they heard haps they were not the men I 
what had been done their joy jhad taken them to be. I walked 
must have been as great as that (out iii their midst, They asked 
which thrilled the hearts of our: me if I knew anything of a band 
forefathers when they received ' of robbers near Holman's Ford, 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY 



11 



in Wilkes county. I told them 
I did. They said also that they 
had heard that the fort had 
been taken and the band dislog- 
ed and wished to know if it 
weas true. I told them it was 
true. They wished to know if I 
was there and took part in it. I 
told them I was there and took 
part in it. Being still uncertain 
as to who they were and what 
their mission might be I deter- 
mined not to tell who else help- 
ed take it, should they ask me. 
They then asked me what we 
did unto those robbers I replied 
that we tied them to stakes and 
shot them. The lieutenant in 
command said: "I am glad of 
it, for if we had taken them we 
should have executed them." 
He then told us that the mes- 
sage which we sent while on our 
way to Fort Ham by had reach- 
ed their head-quarters and that 
they were on their way to set- 
tle all these troubles and put 
an end to all the lawlesness. It 
can be truthfully said that no 
men from whatever section ever 
came into that part of our State 
who wore more cordially wel- 
comed. The lieutenant had 
thirty-one men in his command 
on that trip, but two other di- 
visions of them had gone to ot- 
her places for breakfast. 
SIMMONS. 
They went into the moun- 



tains and captured the notori- 
ous Simmons, whose name has 
been mentioned in connection 
with that of Wade. They took 
him to their encampment near 
Lexington, N. C, and put him 
into the guard house. While 
plundering and murdering in 
the mountains he had- supplied 
himself with a good sum of 
gold and silver with some of 
which he bribed the sentinel 
and got away, and has never 
been heard from since in those 
parts. 

In August, 1865, I was asked 
to open up a school in Wilkes- 
boro and entered upon the work 
the first of September. The 
school house was on a high ridge 
West of the town nearly a mile 
from the court house. 1 boarded 
in the home of Mr. H. Curtis, 
at the ford of the Yadkin River 
on the road leading from Wilkes- 
boro to Jefferson, in Ashe coun- 
ty. It was just one mile from 
Mr. Curtis's to the court house, 
and about a quarter of a mile 
to the school house. I went to 
my boarding place each day for 
dinner, as did also his son, and 
daughter and a young lady who 
was boarding there. The first 
week in October the first court 
that had been held in a long 
time was in session, presided 
over by Judge Anderson Mitch- 
ell of States ville. One clay dur- 



12 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY. 



ing that week, just after dinner, 
while in the sitting room with 
the two sons and three daugh- 
ters of Mr. Curtis and the young 
lady who was boarding in the 
family, two men rode up to the 
gate and into the yard and right 
up to the window of the room in 
which we were sitting and one 
asked Judson, the eldest sou of 
Mr. Curtis for powder to load 
his pistol, saying with an oath 
that he had just shot at a rebel 
and must have puwder to reload, 
Judson told him he could not 
get it. He replied that he would 
then come in and take it by force. 
Judson then turned to me and 
said, "What must I do?'' I re- 
plied, do not let him have it 
from now until noon on Doom's 
Day, and if he attempts to come 
in here we will kill him." 

On two occasions before this 
thn Hamby gang had entered 
this home and rifled every trunk 
and drawer and broken up fur- 
niture, and these two men were 
known to be thetr sympathizers. 
He then rode to a negro cabin 
nearby and learning where Mr. 
Curtis was at work, galloped up 
to him, pointing his pistol at 
his head. "Give me powder to 
load my pistol or I will blow 
your brains out." Mr. Curtis 
replied : If you get powder from 
me you will get it burnt." He 
came into the house as pale as a 



corps and told his younger son, 
Finley, to go into a small room 
in the rear of the building and 
load those guns as quick as pos- 
sible. Finley and I had them 
loaded perhaps in less than five 
minutes. The young man de- 
manding the powder was still 
in the-yardon his horse. I took 
my stand at the front window 
and turned to Mr. Curtis and 
said : "I want you to understand 
that I propose to kill him if he 
attempts to come in." He said. 
"That is exactly what I want 
you to do." 

The man had dismounted 
and was throwing the bridle rein 
over the horse rack. At this 
moment Mr. Curtis's oldest 
daughter came to me frantic 
with fear, begging me to put 
down the gun and let him come 
in and take what he would, say- 
ing if we resisted some one 
would be killed. I bade her go 
to the rear part of the building 
where she would be out of dan- 
ger, and to go at once, saying 
that I would rather die than to 
live in this way. Finley had 
taken his position at the front 
door, and his father at the par- 
lor window. Seeing that we 
were armed and ready, he at 
once remounted, and leaving the 
other man on his horse at the 
gate, said to him. "You remain 
till I return. I will go to town 



CAPTURE OF FORT HAMBY 



13 



and get my crowd and will come 
back to get what I want." He 
gallopped away toward town. I 
went out to the gate and told 
the. one remaning to take his 
companion away as soon as he 
returned ; that we did not wish 
to hurt any one. He said to me, 
"You have guns in that house, 
have you not?" He was told that 
it was ours to know what we 
had. In the meantime we sent 
Judson Curtis down the river 
through the bottoms to the 
court house to inform the Judge 
and Sheriff of what was going 
on, I sent the two young ladies 
who were my pupils to the 
school house to tell the young 
men there and who had been 
soldiers in the war to come to 
me immediately. They came and 
I had not more than time to tell 
them what was up, before he 
with eight or ten others came 
galloping down the hill with 
their pistols, and as they ap- 
proached the gate we all moved 
mto the hocse and took our 
places with our guns. They saw 
us when they reached the gate. 



He stopped and said : "Here is 
the place. ' ' Seeing our increased 
force and the advantage we had 
in the house they took his 
horse's bridle and said, "Come 
on, come on," and on they 
went across the ford and clear 
out of sight. That night the 
Sheriff with a posse of men pur- 
sued them and captured the two 
first mentioned and carried them 
before Judge Mitchell, who im- 
posed a fine on each and sent 
them to jail for a term of months. 
When the Judge sentenced the 
young man to jail he told him 
that if he had persisted in go- 
ing into that hou>e that he would 
have been killed. In a few 
days the young man sent his 
mother word to sell his pistols, 
saying that he never expected 
to buckle one on again while he 
lived, They served out their 
time in prison and both became 
good citizens, and so far as I 
know they may be living today. 
This was the last of the troubles 
that followed the war in all that 
section of the State. 

W. R. GWALTNEY. 



